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Saturday, March 14, 2009

Two wise men try to comprehend Narendra Modi

I could see how he moves crowds, or takes over boardrooms. I have met Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and both Bushes. At close range, Modi beats them all in charisma. Whenever he opened his mouth, he suddenly had real, mesmerizing presence.

and

...the churches and bastions in Diu are ruins not because they represent an idea that failed but because they represent no idea at all, whereas India has been an idea since Gandhi’s Salt March in 1930. Either Modi will fit his managerial genius to the service of that idea, or he will stay where he is. Hindus elsewhere in India are less communal-minded than those in Gujarat, and that will be his dilemma.

First of all, we have to question the factual accuracy of the Salil Tripathi article you refer to.Here is a link to an economic times article which bases itself on an RBI studyon investments. http://www.articlearchives.com/economy-economic-indicators/economic-indicators/1830684-1.html It says that Gujarat is a clear leader in number of rupees investment with other states being very distant laggards. However, in terms of number of projects implemented, Gujarat is number 4. So what is more important the number of projects or number of rupees invested?

Secondly, if law and order are a public good and Gujarat is a supposed laggard because of the isolated Post-Godhara riots that lasted for 2 days - who is the leader? Maharashtra with ongoing bullying by MNS of Biharis and UPites? Karnatak where women are assaulted and chased out of pubs? Andhra Pradesh where Naxalites rule? West Bengal which chased the Tatas out? UP? Bihar?

Ravi, could you tell us about the inaccuracies in Robert Kaplan's article? Do they break his main argument?

Anonymous, the CMIE data that Salil is using is much stronger than the RBI measurement of investments.

Law and order in India is a serious problem. But it is also the case that 2000 people were not murdered in any city in a concentrated few days ever since the Delhi pogrom against Sikhs in 1984. So for all its problems, Bombay has a better record on safety, when compared with Gujarat, after 1948 and Delhi has a better record on safety, when compared with Gujarat, after 1985.

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